English 1023 (Advanced Technical Communication)

AY 2021-2022

Lesson 1: Introduction to Technical Communication

Topic: Definition and Characteristics of Technical Communication

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this lesson, you are expected to:

Define technical writing;

Compare different categories of writing communication;

Accomplish worksheet on the importance of technical communication

LEARNING CONTENT

Introduction:

Technical communication is written for and about business and industry, focusing on products
and services: how to manufacture them, market them, manage them, deliver them, and use them.
Technical writing is written: in the work environment or for supervisors, colleagues, subordinates,
vendors, and customers. Technical writing, which must be understood easily and quickly, includes:
memos and e-mail letters, reports, instructions, brochures and newsletters, the job search, web pages,
fliers, PowerPoint presentations, and graphics. Technical writing/Technical Communication is the
resume that helps get a job and the web page that promotes a company. In each case, the technical
document must be quantifiable, precise, and easily understood.

Why would you study technical communication? Is your learning not enough without adding one more
assignment or series of assignments? What’s the point?
You often do not believe that you will have to write at work. Do not assume that once your education is
completed, writing will be a distant memory because you are wrong! Once you are employed, you will
have to write on the job. One reason for studying teaching technical communication is so you will know
the types of documents you will write on your future job.

So, let’s prepare ourselves for an enjoyable technical writing experiences!

Lesson Proper:

What Is Technical Communication?

Technical information is frequently communicated through documents such as proposals, emails,

When you produce technical communication, you use the four basic communication modes — listening,
speaking, reading, and writing — to analyze a problem, find and evaluate evidence, and draw
conclusions. These are the same skills and processes you use when you write in college, and the
principles you have studied in your earlier writing courses apply to technical communication. The biggest
difference between technical communication and the other kinds of writing you have done is that
technical communication has a somewhat different focus on purpose and audience.

Difference of Technical writing from other types of write-ups

Technical Writing is different from other types of write-ups in terms of content, style, language, and
purpose.
Technical Writing versus Academic Writing

Academic and technical writing are two forms of writing between which a key difference can be
identified. Most people assume that a technical writer is, in fact, an academic writer as well. This,
however, is a false assumption. Although both academic writing and technical writing require excellent
writing skills, the key differences between these two types of writing are the audience and purpose of
writing. Academic Writing is a form of writing that is used in academic disciplines. On the other hand,
technical writing is a form of writing that is mostly used in technical disciplines. As you can see, the
context of the two forms of writing differ from one another. Also, the target audience for academic
writing is mostly scholars, but not in the case of technical writing. Even a lay person can be the target
audience.

Technical Writing versus Creative Writing

Technical writing and creative writing are two styles of writing, which may very well be distinguished just
by having a look at their traits. The principal between every of them is that, creative writing is written to
enthrall, entertain and arouse a certain feeling in a reader, whereas technical writing is to show the
viewers with the factual knowledge and is launched in a logical technique.

Below is a poem about a tennis shoe as well as technical specifications for manufacturing the same
shoe. These two writing samples further illustrate the difference between technical writing and other
types of writing.
UNDERSTANDING PURPOSE

Technical communication begins with identifying a problem and thinking about how to solve it. Because
of the variety of problems and solutions in the working world, people communicate technical
information for a number of purposes, many of which fall into one of two categories:
Communication that helps others learn about a subject, carry out a task, or make a decision. For
instance, administrators with the Department of Health might hire a media production company to
make a video that explains to citizens how to use a website to manage their Medicare benefits. The
president of a manufacturing company might write an article in the company newsletter to explain to
employees why management decided to phase out production of one of the company’s products. The
board of directors of a community-service organization might produce a grant proposal to submit to a
philanthropic organization in hopes of being awarded a grant. Figure 1.1 shows a screen capture from an
online video that explains how to create a facebook web page.

FIGURE 1.1 A Communication That Helps Others Carry Out a Task

The purpose of this online video is to help viewers carry out the task on how to create their own web
page.
Communication that reinforces or changes attitudes and motivates readers to take action. A wind
energy company might create a website with videos and text intended to show that building wind
turbines off the coast of a tourist destination would have many benefits and few risks. A property
owners’ association might create a website to make the opposite argument: that the wind turbines
would have few benefits but many risks. In each of these two cases, the purpose of communicating the
information is to persuade people to accept a point of view and encourage them to act — perhaps to
contact their elected representatives and present their views about this public-policy issue. Figure 1.2
shows an excerpt from a website that promotes the building of wind turbines off the coast of
Massachusetts.

FIGURE 1.2 A Communication That Aims to Change Attitudes

UNDERSTANDING AUDIENCE

When you communicate in the workplace, you have not only a clear purpose — what you want to
achieve — but also a clearly defined audience — one or more people who are going to read the
document, attend the oral presentation, visit the website, or view the video you produce. Sometimes
audience members share the same purpose, but not always. It’s possible, even likely, that a piece of
technical communication will have multiple audiences with different purposes.

In most of your previous academic writing, your audience has been your instructor, and your purpose
has been to show your instructor that you have mastered some body of information or skill. Typically,
you have not tried to create new knowledge or motivate the reader to take a particular action — except
to give you a “95” for that assignment.

By contrast, in technical communication, your audience will likely include peers and supervisors in your
company, as well as people outside your company. For example, suppose you are a public-health
scientist working for a federal agency. You and your colleagues just completed a study showing that, for
most adults, moderate exercise provides as much health benefit as strenuous exercise. After
participating in numerous meetings with your colleagues and after drafting, critiquing, and revising
many drafts, you produce four different documents:

A journal article for other scientists

A press release to distribute to popular print and online publications

An infographic for use in doctors’ offices

An animated blog post for your agency to share on social media

In each of these documents, you present the key information in a different way to meet the needs of
particular audience.

The Challenges of Producing Technical Communication

One of the most challenging activities you will engage in as a professional is communicating your ideas
to audiences. Why? Because communication is a higher-order skill that involves many complex factors.
The good news is that there are ways to think about these complex factors, to think through them, that
will help you communicate better. No matter what document you produce or contribute to, you need to
begin by considering five sets of factors.

AUDIENCE-RELATED FACTORS

What problem or problems is your audience trying to solve? Does your audience know enough about
your subject to understand a detailed discussion, or do you need to limit the scope, the amount of
technical detail, or the type of graphics you use? Does your audience already have certain attitudes or
expectations about your subject that you wish to reinforce or change? Does your audience speak English
well, or should you present the information in more than one language? Does your audience share your
cultural assumptions about such matters as how to organize and interpret documents, or do you need to
adjust your writing approach to match a different set of assumptions? Does your audience include
people with disabilities (of vision, hearing, movement, or cognitive ability) who have requirements you
need to meet?

PURPOSE-RELATED FACTORS

Before you can write, you need to determine your purpose: what do you want your audience to know or
believe or do after having read your document? Do you have multiple purposes? If so, is one more
important than the others? Although much technical communication is intended to help people perform
tasks, such as configuring privacy settings in a social-media environment, many organizations large and
small devote significant communication resources to the increasingly vital purpose of branding: creating
an image that helps customers distinguish the company from competitors. Most companies now employ
community specialists as technical communicators to coordinate the organization’s day-to-day online
presence and its social-media campaigns. These specialists publicize new products and initiatives and
respond to questions and new developments. They also manage all of the organization’s documents —
from tweets to blog posts to Facebook fan pages and company-sponsored discussion forums.

SETTING-RELATED FACTORS

What is the situation surrounding the problem you are trying to solve? Is there a lot at stake in the
situation, such as the budget for a project, or is your document a more routine communication, such as
technical notes for a software update? What is the context in which your audience will use your
document? Will the ways in which they use it — or the physical or digital environment in which they use
it — affect how you write? Will the document be used in a socially or politically charged setting? Does
the setting include established norms of ethical behavior? Is the setting formal or informal? Settings can
have a great deal of influence over how audiences think about and use technical communication.
DOCUMENT-RELATED FACTORS

What type of content will the document include? How will the content aid problem solving? Does your
subject dictate what kind of document (such as a report or a blog post) you choose to write? Does your
subject dictate what medium (print or digital) you choose for your document? Do you need to provide
audiences with content in more than one medium? If you’re using a document template, how should
you modify it for your audiences and purposes? Does the application call for a particular writing style or
level of formality? (For the sake of convenience, we will use the word document throughout this book to
refer to all forms of technical communication, from written documents to oral presentations and online
forms, such as podcasts and wikis.)

PROCESS-RELATED FACTORS

What process will you use to produce the document? Is there an established process to support the
work, or do you need to create a new one? Do you have sufficient time for planning tasks, such as
analyzing your audience and purpose, choosing writing tools, and researching and reading background
information? Does your budget limit the number of people you can enlist to help you or limit the size or
shape of the document? Does your schedule limit how much information you can include in the
document? Does your schedule limit the type or amount of document testing you can do? Will the
document require updating or maintenance?

Because all these factors interact in complicated ways, every technical document you create involves a
compromise. If you are writing a set of instructions for installing a water heater and you want those
instructions to be easily understood by people who speak only Spanish, you will need more time and a
bigger budget to have the document translated, and it will be longer and thus a little bit harder to use,
for both English and Spanish speakers. You might need to save money by using smaller type, smaller
pages, and cheaper paper, and you might not be able to afford to print it in full color. In technical
communication, you do the best you can with your resources of time, information, and money. The
more carefully you think through your options, the better able you will be to use your resources wisely
and make a document that will get the job done.